Even Democrats Get it Wrong: "The Great Center-Right Delusion" (Krugman, NYT)

[TygrBright]

Politicians and pundits get America wrong. ~Paul Krugman, NYT Opinion

What’s driving American politics off a cliff? Racial hatred and the cynicism of politicians willing to exploit it play a central role. But there are other factors. And an opinion piece by Hertel-Fernandez, Mildenberger, and Stokes in today’s Times (which is actually social science, not opinion!) seems to confirm something I already suspected: misunderstanding of what voters want is distorting both political positioning and public policy.

What the authors of the piece show is that congressional aides grossly misperceive the views of their bosses’ constituents; this is true in both parties, but more so of Republicans. What they don’t point out explicitly is that with the exception of A.C.A. repeal, Democrats err in the same direction as Republicans, just less so. Specifically, both parties believe that the public is to the right of where it really is.

...

Which brings me to something David Roberts wrote yesterday, which complements something I’ve been thinking for a while. He notes, in regard to the frame-Mueller debacle, that we’re dealing with the “second generation of Fox News conservatives,” who grew up entirely inside the right-wing bubble and don’t understand how people outside that bubble talk, think, and behave.

I’d say that this goes even more for professional G.O.P. politicos, who are all apparatchiks. That is, they grew up inside the apparatus of movement conservatism, and really imagine that everyone except a few leftist losers shares their ideology. They don’t even realize that their party’s success has been based on racial antagonism, that most people want to raise taxes on the rich and maintain social benefits.

Those last two paragraphs are (in my opinion) deeply significant, and point up the weakness in the GOPitarian armor. Ignore it at our peril.

interestedly,
Bright

[ms liberty]

1. K&R. n/t